Why Bill Gates Is My Worst Nightmare

Posted By: Jim Goldman

Bill Gates

By now you've heard the wacky way Microsoft [MSFT 18.9988 -0.4412 (-2.27%) ] Chairman Bill Gates tried to illustrate his point about impoverished people around the world trying to deal with the lethal problem of malaria, and what the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is trying to do about it: Gates opened a jar filled with mosquitoes on stage at the TED2009 Conference in Long Beach, California last night and subjected the audience to instant infestation.

And while the foundation itself declared that the insects were malaria-free (but no word on West Nile or encephalitis), that was little solace to the hundreds in the audience hearing that awful humming noise in their ears as the mosquitoes moved from victim to victim.

Microsoft, of course, is no stranger to bugs and their effects on helpless, unsuspecting victims. Think Vista and you get my point.

For me personally, I have a mosquito phobia. I'll never forget, as an 8-year old boy, suffering a particularly awful, hot, humid summer when I was being eaten alive daily by mosquitoes. One night, I was laying in bed and one of the blood-suckers was humming around my ear. It was driving me crazy. I laid there, in the dark, helpless. It got so bad that I crawled to my bathroom, shoved a towel under the crack of the door, curled up and slept in there. Ever since, nothing drives me crazier than that dreaded mosquito hum. It's awful.

Pierre Omidyar, eBay's founder, was at the event and Twittered, "That's it. I am not sitting up front anymore."

Ewwwww.

Gates was trying to raise awareness of the global malaria problem, with as many as a half-billion victims infected every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, leading to 1 million deaths. Gates' foundation will pump nearly $170 million into the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative working to create a malaria vaccine. Good thing he's not focused on Ebola (monkey-meat sandwiches anyone?) or the Plague (release the flea-infested rats!) His stunt worked, however. Google Gates and mosquitoes and you'll get a boatload of results.

Just goes to show that creative marketing can still generate results. And the mosquitoes were infinitely better than, say, trotting out comedian Jerry Seinfeld who made those appearances with Gates in those bizarre Microsoft ads from last year to try to help deliver the new Microsoft message. Heck, Microsoft used to use butterflies to get the message out about its MSN service in 2000. Maybe the whole company will adopt mosquitoes for Windows 7?

I've reached out to some of you in attendance last night, but haven't heard back. If you were there, got bitten or not, and want to share your experiences and thoughts from the event, feel free to write in. I'll post your comments when I get them.

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